Lady In The Lake Movie And Book Comparison

The Lady in the Lake

The Lady in the Lake was a novel written in 1943 by Raymond Chandler, four years later, the film adaption was created, called Lady in the Lake, and directed by Robert Montgomery. Both the film and the novel, focused on the same protagonist, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe was hired as a private investigator, to track down the missing wife of Mr. Kingsby, a well-known businessman. The film adaption had many similarities to the novel, including the basic plotline, but also contained large differences that changed the story, consisting of characters, such as the character of Adrienne Fromsett, and story events. In Lady in the Lake and The Lady in the Lake, Chandler and Montgomery shared the same plotline of detective Philip

Marlowe being hired to find Crystal Kingsby, while finding many important details along the way.
Both novel and film contain similar plotlines; they both have the same overall outline, but contain many other details that make them different from each other.

Lady in the Lake is dark and cynical, making this a film noir, however, Marlowe isn’t an “antihero”, but a “private eye hero”, he is one of the few detectives who actually care about their clients and does what is best, leading away from the film noir meaning. The film was created to have the directing and acting similar to the novel; both novel and film were created so the audience would view everything and everyone through the eyes of the protagonist, detective Philip Marlowe, allowing the readers and viewers to identify with the hero. Since the film is shot with a subjective camera, we rarely see Marlow, except for in mirrors, but we can hear what he is saying, and the way he views everything. When Marlowe is slapped, the camera moves as if it was hit too, and when Fromsett goes in to kiss him, the viewers experience it as well. The acting by Montgomery made the character of Marlowe different from the novel. The film consistently has Marlowe being rude and snapping at everybody, rather than only acting that way when completely necessary. Marlowe was more laid back throughout the novel, rather than aggressive like he was in the film. The novel portrays him as more likeable and loyal, but not perfect, allowing us to identify with him even more. There were many major differences but minor changes as well. Such as the novel being set midsummer, while the film was set during Christmas. Both were set in Los Angeles, and a small town not too far

away.
In Chandler’s novel, Mr.Kingsley/Kingsby hires Marlowe to find his missing wife of two weeks, Crystal. He knows that she had been having an affair with a man named Chris Lavery, and she had sent Kingsby a telegram, that read, “Am crossing to get Mexican divorce stop will marry Chris stop good luck and goodby Crystal.” However, Kingsby had talked with Lavery who stated he also hadn’t seen Crystal, and had no plan to marry her. Mr. Kingsby wasn’t concerned about her disappearing, but rather concerned that she was out doing something that may embarrass him and hurt his business. After learning of Lavery, Marlowe goes to watch his house where he then meets detective-lieutenant, Al Degarmo, who is contacted by Lavery’s neighbor, Dr. Almore.
In Montgomery’s film, Philip Marlowe is contacted by Kingsby Publications after submitting a story. He believes he was contacted due to his story, but once he arrives and meets the publishing executive, Adrienne Fromsett, played by Audrey Totter, he finds that he is being hired to locate the missing wife of Adrienne’s boss, Mr. Kingsby. Adrienne informs him of Crystal’s affair, and the telegram that she believed was fake, leading to Marlowe’s belief that Adrienne is hiring him because she wants to be with Mr. Kingsby, most likely for the money. Different from the novel, Kingsby seems to be more genuinely concerned of his wife’s whereabouts. Marlowe then goes to question Lavery, where he ends up being punched in the face and wakes up in jail.
In Chandler’s novel, Marlowe makes his way to the last place Crystal had been seen, Little Fawn Lake. Marlowe meets the caretaker, Bill Chess, who explains how his wife had also gone missing around the same time as Mrs. Kingsby. After searching through the house of Mr. Kingsby, finding no clues of Crystal’s location, he walks with Chess and finds a body floating in the lake outside the house. The body is decomposed, but is believed to be the body of Chess’s wife, Muriel, due to her clothes and jewelry, leading to the arrest of Bill. The film is similar, however, Marlowe is just informed of the found body, but then learns from Adrienne that Crystal and Muriel didn’t get along, and also learning that Muriel is an alias for Mildred Haviland, a woman hiding from a cop that Marlowe believes is Degarmo.
During the novel and the film, Marlowe then goes to question Lavery once again, where he finds Mrs. Fallbrook, who states that she is the owner of the house. Mrs. Fallbrook is holding a gun that she claims she found, and once she leaves, Marlowe finds the body of Chris Lavery. The police are called, and Marlowe is questioned but isn’t arrested. In the film, Marlowe then goes to talk with Fromsett, where he ends up talking to Mr. Kingsby instead, and discusses how he had been hired by Adrienne to find Crystal. Mr. Kingsby explains to Adrienne that their relationship is business only; out of anger, Adrienne fires Marlowe, but is then hired by Kingsby. Different from the film, Marlowe contacts Mr. Kingsby about finding Lavery dead, and assuming Crystal had committed the crime, Kingsby paid Marlowe to cover it up.
The film and novel both end with Marlowe going to drop off money to Crystal after receiving a telegram. The film closes with Marlowe meeting with who he thought would be Crystal, but turns out to be Mildred, who pretended to be Mrs. Fallbrook and Muriel. Mildred killed Crystal, who was the lady in the lake, as well as Dr. Amore’s wife and Chris Lavery. In the novel, Marlowe goes to meet with Crystal, realizing he had already met her but she had pretended to be Mrs. Fallbrook. Marlowe accuses her of killing Lavery and she immediately pulls a gun on Marlowe, but right before he could take the gun, he is knocked out unconscious. When waking, he finds who he believed was Crystal, strangled to death. After almost being framed by Degarmo for the death, Marlowe learns that the strangled woman was actually Mildred, who had formally been married to Degarmo. Leading to the lady in the lake actually being Crystal Kingsley, rather than Muriel Chess, who had been killed by Mildred, and Degarmo being shot and killed in the end.